Crisis budget cuts cover a wide swath of the University of Washington's athletic programs, everything from football to cheer staff. Travel is particularly impacted. Soccer drops out of the Pac-8 tournament in San Francisco, a reduction in the recruiting budget from $1700 to $500, and the team banquet is eliminated.

Just five weeks after being greeted by cheerful applause at the Sounders' inaugural home match, Edmund G. "Eddie" Craggs dies of cancer at age 77. Born in England, Craggs brought his family to Seattle in 1947. The Gaffer soon after began coaching at St. Anne's Parish and founded the Fremont Boys Club. The latter grew into the Buchan Bakers, a a six-time state first division champion. A National Soccer Hall of Fame inductee, he coordinated weekly state league doubleheaders at Lower Woodland and was a longtime secretary to the WSSFA.

Seattle goes undefeated in its final four games and earns the sixth-highest point total yet misses the NASL playoffs. The Sounders (13-7), after a victory over Vancouver, 2-1, in the finale, finish two points behind San Jose for the Western Division's second slot. Division winner Los Angeles, which Seattle beat by a 5-1 score, goes on to take the championship. Prior to playing the Whitecaps, players go into the Memorial Stadium stands to distribute 1,000 roses. Following the game, they join fans in singing "Auld Lang Syne."

It's a storybook start to professional soccer in Seattle. A near-capacity crowd of 12,132 comes to their feet less than two minutes after kickoff as Willie Penman scores the opener vs. Denver. John Rowlands adds two more goals before intermission. After the final whistle of the 4-0 victory, Sounders players gather in the circle to applaud and wave to the fans who, in turn, roar their approval once again.

Two goals from Al Kovats help Fox Restaurant get a 3-3 tie with Tacoma Heidelberg in Steilacoom, clinching the state league second-half title for the Foxes (7-1-1). Bob Hopper has a brace for Heidelberg. Fox will face Olympia Olys for the championship Mar. 31.

Seattle’s playoff hopes fade as it loses its third straight game and second in three days, 2-1 at New York. Jimmy Gabriel gives the Sounders a short-lived lead, but Mark Liveric eventually gets the Cosmos' second-half winner on the worn and bumpy ground at Downing Stadium. Seattle will need to win at least three of the final four matches to overtake San Jose for the division’s final playoff slot.

Play in the newly-minted Washington State Women's Soccer Association gets underway with teams featuring names like Renton Mudders, Overlake Godmothers and West Seattle Lady Bugs.

Thanks to a Joe Scorda goal, Green River takes the inaugural Puget Sound Regional Community College championship, 1-0, over Bellevue at Lower Woodland Park. Scorda scores midway through the first half as the Gators prevail. Eight teams compete for the title.

Seattle Pacific throws the Husky Classic bracket into chaos by holding San Francisco, the No .5 team in Division I, to a 3-3 draw and then advancing to the semifinals on penalty kicks (5-4). The Dons had been heavily favored to meet defending NCAA champion and 2nd-ranked St. Louis in the tournament final. Kit Zell’s second goal, at 70’, forces overtime. The Falcons hit all five of their shootout attempts and, following a USF miss, Daudi Abe drills the decisive fifth. Due UW football practice running long, the game’s first half is played on a grass football practice field, the second half on the Husky Stadium turf. Washington also upsets USF, 3-2, the following day. St. Louis proceeds to win the tournament, defeating San Jose State, 1-0, in the final.

Albert Victor "Vic" Weston, one of the state's top players during the early 20th Century, passes at age 76. Weston was a Black Diamond native, miner and later served as mayor, from 1969-74. He starred for Black Diamond, Carbonado, West Seattle and Renton clubs. He served as WSSFA secretary from 1944-56 and was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1956.

After four seasons of winter scheduling, during which Memorial Stadium was affected by cold, rain and occasional snow, Seattle's Metro League switches to a spring schedule. It also conforms to WIAA championship schedule, set for 1975.

A commissioner-ordered replay results in an added bonus point for Seattle as it squashes Rochester, 3-0. The Lancers lodged a protest after Seattle, as usual, watered the artificial surface before kickoff of a 2-0 win on Aug. 3. On Aug. 7, NASL commissioner Phil Woosnam ordered a hasty replay. Despite the quick turnaround, traveling back from St. Louis and dry turf, the Sounders jump on top with John Rowlands heading in Hank Liotart’s cross at 29’. They score four minutes apart late in the second half, first Dave Gillett following a corner then Roy Sinclair finishing a combination from Otey Cannon.

Tim Allen proves an unruly guest, smashing a record four goals past Western Washington in Seattle University’s 6-3 win at Bellingham. It is Allen’s fourth multi-goal game and gives him 13 for the season. Steve Van Gaver nets his eighth. Dave Hansen scores twice for the Vikings.

Following their first sellout, the Seattle Sounders increase Memorial Stadium's capacity by 1,500 prior to playing St. Louis. When that sells out, another 525 seats are added for the next home game, boosting capacity to 14,86 for the final four home matches.

The surging Sounders win their sixth in a row and for the second time in 24 hours on the road. Seattle blows a 2-nil lead in the final six minutes but recovers to prevail, 2-2 (9-8) in a penalty kick shootout at San Jose. John Rowlands and David Butler puts the visitors in front. Neither team misses on the first eight rounds, but after Roy Sinclair converts, the 10-man Earthquakes' keeper, Mike Ivanow, clangs his try off the crossbar. Seattle had also won via a shootout in Dallas the previous night, 0-0 (4-1). The six-point victory elevates the Sounders to the second-highest total in the NASL, behind Los Angeles.

Mike Ryan organizes a meeting at Seattle's Sherwood Inn for those women interested in forming a league. Over the next month, the Washington State Women's Soccer Association is formed, and Ryan, the Washington Huskies head coach, is elected the first president. The 10-team league features players ranging from teens to over 40, with clubs named Capitol Hill Streakers, University District Geoducks and West Seattle Ladybugs.

After seven years and some 1,500 events, a new Seattle Memorial Stadium artificial playing surface is installed. The second-generation Astroturf is now 64 yards wide (from 62) and features and a more advanced, 5/8-inch pad underneath. Metro League athletic director Frank Inslee also had seat backs installed before the first Sounders season. The refurbishments cost $290,000 and were paid for by rental and parking concessions from the past seven years, according to Metro League athletic director Frank Inslee.

Pepe Fernandez, a former NASL Most Valuable Player, is the first major signing for the Sounders. Fernandez, 30, comes on loan from Haarlem in The Netherlands. He played in Los Angeles, San Diego and Kansas City from 1967-69 and is the league’s No. 7 career scorer with 40 goals and 14 assists. Born in Uruguay, he played in Ecuador before arriving in America and has since played in Holland.

All-America defender and Senior Bowl MVP David D'Errico is chosen by the Seattle Sounders with the third overall pick in the NASL draft. D'Errico starred for New York's Hartwick College and signed earlier with the ASL New Jersey Brewers, but Sounders offer a better contract and make him their first official signing on Mar. 20.

Rallying from two goals down, Blanchet High School defeats Shorecrest, 3-2, for the unofficial state championship at Memorial Stadium. George Brown gets the winner with 8 minutes left for the Braves, who had also beaten the Scots in a preseason tournament. Kelly Gordon and Pat Bates had brought Blanchet level after John Anderson and Russ Eaden put Shorecrest in front.

Sounders coach John Best returns to Seattle from a 12-day trip to Europe during which he signed 10 players ahead of the May 5 NASL opener at Los Angeles. Among those signed, most on loan terms, are Jimmy Gabriel, David Gillett, Willie Penman, John Rowlands, Alan Stephens, Tjeert Van't Land, Barry Watling. Stockport County later refuses to loan Ian Lawther and Harry Kirk.

Three days before their inaugural match, the Seattle Sounders finally train with each of their newly-signed players. Pepe Fernandez and Tjeert Van't Land arrived May 1 from The Netherlands. Seven players based in Great Britain and Ireland landed at SeaTac Airport on April 29 and first trained at Memorial Stadium the following morning. Says coach John Best: "Most of the players coming from Britain have similar styles. It’s just a matter of putting it together."

A rebound conversion by Jose Reyes in the 144th minute lifts Seattle Pacific over Eastern Illinois, 3-2, in a four-overtime NCAA Division II semifinal thriller in St. Louis. The Falcons are now unbeaten in 11 games (8-0-3). Had the game been tied after the fourth overtime, the tiebreaker of most corner kicks would apply. Eastern held a 4-1 advantage.

Steve Furjesi scores as Value Metals of Seattle claims the Five-a-Side championship. Value Metals prevails, 1-0, over the Vancouver Spartans Bs at Memorial Stadium.

Three-time state cup champion Lake City Hawks are among three Washington boys' teams leaving for summer tours of Europe. U11 Lake City recycled bottles and washed cars to raise funds for the 25-day visit to West Germany, which coincides with the FIFA World Cup. Also in Deutschland are the Hillwood Hawks and the Carlsen-Winquist Arco Oilers of West Seattle. Meanwhile, 80 youth from Eintracht SC are visiting the Puget Sound area.

Seattle's new NASL club will be known as the Sounders. That name received 32 percent of the mail-in votes, with five other finalists – Cascades, Evergreens, Mariners, Schooners and Sockeyes - finishing well behind. Initially, more than 300 nicknames were submitted.

Sixty trialists attend the Sounders' first tryout at Bellevue Community College. Of those, Roger Goldingay, Ballan Campeau and Dave Landry eventually make the team.

Seattle is awarded an NFL expansion franchise, with the league's 28th team to begin play in 1976. Six months later, on Dec. 5, the league owners vote to accept an ownership group led by Lloyd Nordstrom. Joining Nordstrom are Herman Sarkowsky, David E. (Ned) Skinner, M. Lamont Bean, Howard S. Wright and Lynn P. Himmelman – six of the eight Sounders owners. The price of the franchise is $16 million.

Kit Zell nets the opening blow as Seattle Pacific all but clinches its first Northwest Collegiate Soccer Conference championship with a 1-1 tie at Washington. Danny Vaughn equalizes for the Huskies with 5 minutes to go. The Falcons snap a 7-game UW win streak and back-to-back conference crowns.

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) adds boys' soccer as a championship sport, beginning in spring of 1975. Only 35 high schools in the Seattle-Tacoma area have soccer programs at the time, however the announcement is the impetus for other schools in thriving junior soccer areas to begin varsity play.

Freshman Jose Reyes scorers a pair of goals to separate Seattle Pacific from Washington, 3-1, in the NCSC opener at Queen Anne Bowl. It's the first time that the Falcons have won consecutive meetings in the series, and it comes a week after SPC gave up nine goals in Far West Classic losses to Chico State and Biola.

Lake Washington Shamrocks complete an undefeated campaign by winning the Washington State Women's Soccer Association championship, 3-1 over Lake City Geoducks at Sixty Acres Park in Redmond. The Shamrocks (8-0-1) had won the Saturday division while Lake City (8-2-1) took the Wednesday division.

Newly-acquired David Butler becomes the first Sounder named NASL Player of the Month. Butler scored seven goals in his final six June matches, including braces against Baltimore and Philadelphia. He was signed from England's Shrewsbury Town May 29 to replace the injured Pepe Fernandez.

Newly-acquired Otey Cannon scores four minutes after coming off the bench, and his 77th minute goal gives the Seattle Sounders 1-0 win over St. Louis. Cannon becomes the NASL's first Black American to score. He had been signed by his former Dallas teammate John Best after being released by the Tornado. It is Seattle's seventh straight win.

Ward Forrest's hat trick provides more than enough firepower for the Heidelberg Huskies to dispatch San Jose Portuguese, 4-0, in a West Region semifinal for the National Amateur Cup. Tage Christiansen, like Forrest, a UW varsity player, adds the other goal at Interbay.

For the first time in their brief existence the Seattle Sounders are held scoreless in a 1-0 loss at Denver. Barry Watling is credited with 16 saves on 23 Dynamo shots. Ian Robins nets the sole goal 39 seconds into the game at Mile High Stadium.

After yielding three Adelphi goals in the first 24 minutes, Seattle Pacific pulls two goals back through Kit Zell but cannot equalize in the NCAA championship game, falling, 3-2, in snow and sub-freezing temperatures in St. Louis. Zell finishes with 16 goals for the season, including five in four postseason games.

Sounders rookie defender Dave D'Errico becomes the club's first player called into international duty. D'Errico is named by Dettmar Cramer to the U.S. National Team facing Mexico in a pair of friendlies. He starts both games, a 3-1 loss at Monterrey and a 1-0 loss in Dallas.

Seattle Parks Department installs a cinder surface made from crushed brick at Lower Woodland Park. Cintrex alleviates problems with puddling and mud but proves abrasive on legs and arms. Meanwhile, a new close-fibered grass surface with improved drainage is laid at West Seattle Stadium.

The Sounders make their official debut, facing another NASL expansion team, the Los Angeles Aztecs, at East L.A. College as the surrounding Latin community celebrates Cinco de Mayo. Only 4,107 are in attendance. L.A.'s largely Mexican and South American squad has been together since mid-March, playing several Mexican clubs in preparation. their Latin style is a contrast to Seattle's direct approach, finding the target man, John Rowlands, and then bringing support from midfield in a 4-3-3 alignment. Rowlands scores the historic first goal at 40', briefly tying it at 1-1. Doug McMillan scores his second goal just before halftime, and the Aztecs prevail, 2-1.

Husky SC takes possession of the George Washington Trophy after finishing atop the state league's first half. The Huskies beat the BMC Jaguars, 2-1, at West Seattle Stadium.

Memorial Stadium is packed with 13,876 fans, making Seattle the first club in NASL history to achieve a complete sellout. The Sounders, on a sweltering early summer evening, win their fourth straight match, 2-0, over the defending champion Philadelphia behind a David Butler brace.

David Butler's goal in the final four minutes lifts 10-man Seattle over Toronto, 2-1, to snap a three-game losing streak and hand the Metros their first defeat. After trailing a half, the Sounders' Tjeert Van't Land ends a 326-minute scoring drought in the 54th minute to pull even. They play the final 17 minutes shorthanded following Dave D'Errico's expulsion. Butler’s winner, his first goal since joining the team earlier in the week, comes after Van’t Land’s cross to John Rowlands is flicked on to his path.

Seattle's Lake City Hawks run roughshod at the Pacific Coast International tournament in Vancouver. After routing Oregon's Rockwood Pioneers, 13-0, in the semifinals, the state U11 champions drub Dunbar, 5-2, for the title.

Sounders players Pepe Fernandez, Hank Liotart and Tjeert Van’t Land are among those intently watching the FIFA World Cup final being beamed via satellite from Munich to the Seattle Center Arena. It’s the fourth weekly, live closed-circuit viewing, which began June 15 with a double-header. Admission to the final is priced at $10. West Germany prevails over Liotart and Van’t Land’s Netherlands, 2-1.

Kit Zell’s overtime goal gives the Seattle Pacific its first on-field postseason victory, 3-2, in a first round NCAA game at muddy Cal State Hayward. The Falcons were 1-3-0 over the past three postseasons, with their sole victory a forfeit. Daudi Abe finds Jose Reyes for the game’s opening goal. The Pioneers grab the lead early in the second period before Zell begins his third multi-goal game of the year with an equalizer at 70'. His winner comes 12 minutes into extra time when he knocks in the rebound of his own header. Abe and Gordy Isaac score as SPC takes its first regional title at Cal State Fullerton, 2-1, on Nov. 18.

The Seattle Sounders begin publishing a monthly tabloid entitled Soccer Washington. At least 10,000 copies will be printed of each issue through the offseason, covering both the Sounders and amateurs and youth.

Jimmy Gabriel becomes the second major signing by Seattle's NASL expansion club. Gabriel, 33, is a defender who will also serve as John Best’s assistant coach. A former Scottish international, Gabriel has over 500 appearances in the English First Division, with Everton and Southampton. He won an English championship in 1963 and an FA Cup in 1966, both with Everton. Gabriel spent the past two seasons at Bournemouth.

Dominance by the Newport Huskies, NorTac Quicksteps and Lake City Hawks highlight the Washington State Junior Soccer Association state cup finals at Memorial Stadium. Behind tournament MVP Steve Moore, Newport wins its fifth title in a row, 4-0 over Mountlake Terrace in the U15 boys' final. NorTac gets braces from Brad Swain and John Bartich in a 7-1 U13 win over the Mountlake Terrace Roadrunners. Lee Eckmann has two goals and an assist, and Jess Gobel also nets twice in the Hawks' 5-1 victory over the U11 Pan Am Eagles. Over 5,000 attend the two days of finals.

Goals from Kit Zell and Bob Goff give Fox Restaurant the state league crown, 2-1 over the Olympia Olys at Memorial Stadium. Fox, featuring Seattle Pacific College coaches Cliff McCrath and Jack Pascoe, won the second half title. Les Mueller scores for the first-half winner Olys.

Seattle's John Rowlands and Barry Watling are each named to the NASL first team all-stars. Rowlands, the sturdy center forward, scored 10 goals and added eight assists to finish fourth in total points. Watling led all goalkeepers with a 0.80 goals-against average. Both are imports playing on loan from English clubs.